Noninvasive ultrasonic imaging of static foreign objects through the human skull or any other highly scattering multilayered solid structure (acoustical barrier) is difficult. The acoustical barrier possesses different acoustic impedance than the interfacing media, so implementation of conventional phased array imaging techniques results in significant image quality degradation. Where the intact human skull is the barrier, the foreign objects could be pieces of bone fragments, pieces of shrapnel, air bubbles, blood clots with high reflectivity, etc., which have higher/lower acoustic impedance than the surrounding brain tissue. The objects can be lodged at different depths, ranging from immediately under the skull up to several centimeters deep in the brain tissue. The thickness of the skull varies unevenly around the skull, which further causes image distortion.